Girl on Fire

Jennifer Lawrence Thinks It’s Much Too Soon for Hunger Games Prequels

Lionsgate may be going forward with more Hunger Games movies, but they’ll have to do it without their leading lady, Jennifer Lawrence. Not that anyone really expected a prequel to feature Katniss, but rest assured that if the studio could figure out a way to make it happen, they would. But even as Mockingjay, Part 2 continues to dominate the box office, Lawrence has made it clear she would like to put a little distance between herself and her most recognizable role.

“I wouldn’t be involved,” Lawrence told Variety pretty plainly at the premiere of her new film, Joy. She went on to say that if it were up to her, there wouldn’t be any talks of Hunger Games prequels yet. “I think it’s too soon. They’ve got to let the body get cold, in my opinion.”

Lionsgate, understandably, is less inclined to let go of the lucrative Hunger Games brand just yet. And as the studio’s chairman, Michael Burns,explained last week, the focus for the prequels would be on the brutal and vicious arenas, not on the Katniss-led revolution. “The one thing that kids say they missed was there was no arenas. If we went backwards there obviously would be arenas,” Burns said, sounding a bit like the bloodthirsty President Snow.

So, clearly, we shouldn’t be focused on where Katniss fits in (she doesn’t!), but rather which other recognizable Hunger Games face is worthy of their own origin story. Haymitch Abernathy, Finnick Odair, and Johanna Mason are all prime candidates, but no matter who winds up in the arena, we can bet that President Snow will be lurking in the background. Now if only there were someone kicking around Hollywood who looked like a younger Donald Sutherland.